Planar solid oxide fuel cell stacks are comprised of alternating fuel and air chambers, which are sealed from each other and connected to fuel and air delivery manifolds, respectively. Seals must have low electrical conductivity, be chemically and mechanically stable at high temperature in dual environments, moist reducing and oxidizing, and be chemically compatible with the cell and interconnect materials of the particular cell/stack design. Fuel leakage should be less than one percent (1%) averaged over the seal area and not catastrophic for the duration of the seal life. The seal material should be capable of a service life of more than 40,000 hours and dozens of thermal cycles for stationary systems. As the size of cells increases to realize the benefits of scaling power generation systems, the lack of dimensional flatness and parallelism in large cells, which cannot be controlled with existing manufacturing methods, needs to be addressed. The lack of parallelism between adjacent solid oxide fuel cell components will be particularly detrimental for the operation of the fuel cell when these components need to be sealed off. It is therefore important to develop economical seals that can accommodate the lack of dimensional uniformity between components while maintaining the functional sealing requirements. Manufacturability and cost-effectiveness of seals are additional factors for successful commercialization of solid oxide fuel cell technology.